Marine vet to start comedy club at Holbrook's American Legion

Tuesday

A new comedy club will open at the American Legion Dalton Post 137 Bar & Grill Saturday, Jan. 31.

The show, presented by Bill Farrell, will feature some of Boston’s best comics.

“I want to give people on the South Shore their own comedy club,” said Farrell, a Marine veteran.

Farrell has been organizing comedy shows and performing for years.

“This has been a long time coming as a comedian,” Farrell said. “I’ve always wanted to have my own place and do my own shows, and, with me being a veteran, what better place than at a home for veterans? With soldiers coming home with a variety of issues, there is healing in laughter. But this is not just for soldiers. We want to reach out to everybody.”

The club will start by offering monthly shows.

“It’s going to be a nice opportunity for a date night. You come in, have a few drinks and a burger or wrap, and enjoy a good show. All of the comedians are some of Boston’s best. I want to give our audience that kind of quality. You don’t have to travel to Boston to see them. And there’s free parking,” Farrell said.

The first show Jan. 31 will feature Dan Crohn, Jerry Thornton and Andrea Henry.

Crohn, a semi-finalist in the Boston Comedy Festival and the Laughing Skull Festival, has opened for a number of well-known comedians and has played shows all over the country.

Thornton, who appears daily as the third man in on the Dale & Holley Show on WEEI, is the author of the Thornography blog on WEEI.com. Thornton won the Boston Comedy Riot competition and is a writer for Barstool Sports. He has interviewed sports greats such as Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

Henry is scheduled to perform in the seventh annual WICF Festival in April. Her credits include Last Comic Standing, Nickelodeon’s Search for America’s Funniest Mom, and Comic in Residence at The Comedy Studio. She is a member of the Fashion Police for Us Weekly and the coauthor of, “Real Kids Jokes by Real Stand-Up Comics,” according to womenincomedyfestival.com.

Farrell will be MC.

The coming of the comedy club is part of the story of the revitalization of the Dalton Post. In years past, World War II veterans kept the post going, but as time moved on and the ranks of these warriors dwindled, the club grew quiet.

Post 137 Commander Matthew Nelson and Vice Commander Paul Anastasio, along with Andy Best and a group of other dedicated veterans, took on the challenge.

For two years, the veterans worked to remodel their club.

“We started out looking to do a makeover, a remodeling. A lot of things needed to be updated, and there were a lot of hidden things we didn’t expect,” Anastasio said. “The town helped us out a lot with encouragement and guidance.”

Today the upstairs is completely transformed, with a World War II theme.

“Front to back, everything is remodeled,” Anastasio said.

Club membership has grown 40 percent in the past two years, Anastasio said. Many of the veterans are disabled.

“We have war heroes,” Anastasio said.

Post member James Crosby is Veterans’ services agent for Abington and Whitman.

About half the membership is World War II, Korea and Vietnam veterans, with those serving in the Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan eras making up the other half.

“We’re trying to draw in younger veterans and welcome them home,” Anastasio said. “The War on Terrorism has been going on since 2001. A lot of returning veterans need help and attention and a place to go to feel welcome.”

Veterans from other towns are invited to come to the club.

“We want to be the veterans’ pub of the South Shore. We have an open door policy. All veterans are welcome,” Anastasio said.

The club has a tournament dart area, with two teams competing in the Minuteman Dart League, and two nine-foot pool tables. Teams will start competing in September.

“Our mission is to serve veterans,” Anastasio said.

The post funds projects to assist veterans and their families and provides advocacy.

“These veterans came in and brought the club back to make it the best possible place for vets and their families,” Farrell said.

Farrell also would like to see the club expand to include veterans from other communities.

“Hopefully, it will build up to where it was and beyond,” Farrell said.

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